Monday 12th March 2012

And so this weekend we came to the end of the great Harry Potter-a-thon, in which over a series of three weekends we watched all eight films. And, they held up very well I have to say, and were very enjoyable. It is odd to think we shall not see another one now.

So, apart from Potter, what else did we do?

Well, we went to Margate on Saturday. At last. There is a wonderful JWM Turner exhibition on, and as he is my favourite painter, and it was free, it seemed the right thing to do. So, after working out on the cross-trainer. Yes, the cross-trainer; we still have it, and both of us are getting quite fit now. Clearly we both have some time to go, but we can both do 30 minutes now, and at the end of it not feel like we are going to die! It is very good, listening to music as I pump lard, and the half an hour soon passes. Now to up the level a couple of times, and then move onto some interval training, and I think we shall then be seeing some real results.



So, we headed out to Margate, via Preston, as I managed to drop my credit card there last time I called in, and so I bought some stuff for the weekend, including some nice smoked bacon for breakfast on Sunday morning. And then on to Margate. I have described Margate in previous blogs, so I won’t repeat myself again. We parked the car near the old lido, and walked down along the seawall to the gallery. The sea was a nice shade of brown, under the leaden skies, so I had to turn them into mono versions to have any merit at all.



The Turner Contemporary is a great place; my only gripe would be is that it is too small. But, it is free, and is a well designed building, letting in lots of natural light. Seeing Turner’s work on light, even in his sketches and preliminary work is incredible, as he depicted light passing through clouds and onto landscapes like no one else. Sadly, the crowds were sizable, and after seeing what we wanted we left and headed home for lunch and then to watch football on the TV.



And Sunday; off to Pegwell Bay to see the old power station at Richborough. This is something that has been planned for over a decade, and after so many false starts we really didn’t think they would ever come down. I had agreed to take a Flickr contact along, so we made our way to Walmer to pick her up, and then onto Sandwich and the bay beyond. I thought it would be packed, but traffic was light, and seeing only a couple of people down on the apron of the old hoverport, I found a place to park on the housing estate off the main road, and we walked down the slope of the old abandoned approach road.

And as the bangs were due at nine, we had just over an hour to wait. The mist that was around at dawn burned off, to leave it a bit hazy but we could see the towers clearly enough about half a mile away. As time passed more and more folks arrived, but there was more than enough space for us to see clearly, but that did not stop one six foot eight cyclist stand right in front of me having arrived minutes before nine. I strongly pointed out that he should move out of the way, which he did, reluctantly.

And at nine we heard a faint bang; unbeknown to us this was the launching of a flare giving 30 seconds notice. And then, we saw first one tower just collapse, then quickly the other two and the tall chimney as well. Leaving behind a big cloud of dust, which drifted slowly towards Sandwich in the light breeze. And that was it, after standing for 50 years, and being the final reminder that once upon a time, coal was dug from beneath the garden of England to be turned into wiggly amps here. But in 30 seconds they went the way of the mines too. I got my shots, and at the end everyone gave a small round of applause, for who we do not know, but it was a great show.



Norwich were on TV in the afternoon, and played poorly and so managed just to draw with Wigan, but probably have enough points to already be safe. That we considered failing to beat a club with 7 years Premier League experience shows how far City have come in three years.